Yao Yi

Yao Yi (姚顗) (866 – November 8, 940 ), courtesy name Bozhen (伯真) (per the Old History of the Five Dynasties) was an official of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period states Later Liang, Later Tang, and Later Jin, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Later Tang's final emperor Li Congke.

Background Yao Yi was born in 866, during the reign of Emperor Yizong of Tang. He was from the Tang dynasty capital Chang'an. His great-grandfather Yao Xiqi served as an advisor to a prefectural prefect; his grandfather Yao Hongqing served as a prefectural prefect; and his father Yao Jing served as a principal of the imperial university. Yao Yi himself was described as unintelligent, but magnanimous, in his youth. He did not pay attention to his appearance. As a result, people did not respect him, except for the hermit Sikong Tu , who had previously served an official in the imperial administration, and Sikong gave a daughter to him in marriage. It was said that Yao was kind and trusting, such that his household servants and concubines were easily able to cheat him of money. While he would realize this, he did not rebuke them in person. He also was a poor handler of money, not understanding its value well, so he did not accumulate any wealth. The next year, Yao passed the imperial examinations in the Jinshi class, although if he carried any offices during these final years of Tang's existence, it was not recorded in history. During the Zhenming era (915–921) of Zhu Quanzhong's son and successor Zhu Zhen, Yao served successively in a number of offices, progressively higher—Xiaoshu Lang , a copyeditor at the Palace Library; magistrate of Dengfeng County (登封, in modern Zhengzhou, Henan); You Bujue , a low-level consultant at the legislative bureau (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng); Libu Yuanwailang , a low-level official at the ministry of rites (禮部, Libu); then the dual offices of imperial scholar (翰林學士, Hanlin Xueshi) and Zhongshu Sheren , a mid-level official at the legislative bureau. However, he was recalled from exile after about a year, Subsequently, he served successively as deputy minister of defense (兵部侍郎, Bingbu Shilang), deputy minister of civil service affairs (吏部侍郎, Libu Shilang), and Shangshu Zuo Cheng , one of the secretaries general of the executive bureau (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng).

It was said that Yao was not a capable chancellor. One example was his involvement in the selection of officials for civil service. The old Tang system was that the ministry of civil service affairs (吏部, Libu) would select officials in three stages, with the minister of civil service affairs handling one stage and each of the two deputy ministers handling one stage; an official would only be commissioned after going through the three stages. Late in Li Siyuan's reign, then-chancellor Feng Dao advocated merging the three stages into one—arguing that, at that time, the Later Tang realm was no longer as large in territory or population as the unified Tang, such that only several hundred officials were to be selected each year, and that the three-stage selection process was time-wasting and inefficient. Li Siyuan thus merged the three stages into one, and have the minister and deputy ministers of civil service affairs select officials together. When Yao and Lu became chancellors, they again divided the process into three stages, such that it became drawn out again. The candidates were stuck with nothing to do during the selection process, and they often tried to intercept chancellors in public to complain. Yao did nothing about it, and Li Congke had to intercede himself and abolish the three-stage process again. He was shortly after made the minister of census (戶部尚書, Hubu Shangshu) instead. He died in 940 and was given posthumous honors. Because he was so ill-equipped to manage his money affairs, at the time of his death, his family did not even have sufficient funds to hold a proper funeral for him. They had to first pawn their possessions and sell the mansion in order to do so. It was said that the intelligentsia praised him for his honesty but blamed him for his foolishness.

Notes and references

Old History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 92. New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 55. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 272, 279, 280.